A semiretired pediatrician living in a countryside in Japan will describe what he thinks of his hobbies, life and the events around himself.

6/03/2012

Decision to restart a nuclear power plant by Noda

Our prime minister, Noda, declared that he would restart running the Ooi nuclear power plant on his own responsibility. All the nuclear power plants are out of action right now. It is quite difficult for us to understand why he would do that so quickly. How would he take the responsibility for a possible serious accident there? The research for the cause of the accident in Fukushima has not been concluded yet. The present safety standards of the nuclear power plants have not been proven good enough yet. However, he decides to start it again.

Several days ago, the unit 4 at Fukushima nuclear power plant was open to the mass media. It was not in action at the time of the earth quake. It has been, however, paid attention due to the existence of spent and to be spent fuel pool on the 4th floor. The building was completely destroyed. No roof for the pool. Only pieces of vinyl or plastic have covered it. The TEPCO announced that they had strengthened the floor of the pool from beneath with some pillars and walls, which seem not very effective in the destroyed structure of the building. Many people worry about the damage by a possible big earth quake hitting there again in the near future.

The number of the spent fuel is reported to be 1331 while to be spent is 204. A researcher said the amount of Cs137 in those fuel is about 5000 times of that in the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. About 160 times of Cs137 of the atomic bomb has been released in the air by the accident, they say. This amount is large enough to paralyze the country once it is released in the air. Moreover, it would be of a world wide crisis. The spent fuel is so highly radio active that it may be difficult to be handled and transfered to another safer place. They need a big crane and a building supporting it. There could be serious radiation issue to the workers if it were ready.

In Japan, the present safety standards for the nuclear power plants seem to be insufficient. It is based on the myth of safety by the bureaucrats and the related researchers. It should be revised with the knowledge of the cause in Fukushima before any action toward restarting of nuclear power plants is taken. We should stand on the fact that our country has had big earth quakes and tsunamis in the past history. In addition, Japan is getting into a period with higher seismiological activity.

In this situation, how could Noda decide to restart another nuclear power plant?